George shuffles Byker pack

Aug 4 2007 by Barry Wallace, Evening Chronicle

NEWCASTLE team manager George Eng-lish has shuffled his pack of Diamonds for tomorrow’s Premier League match against Edinburgh at Newcastle Stadium.

English has broken up the highly successful partnership of Christian Henry and Carl Wilkinson in a bid to win home matches by heavier margins.

“When Christian and Carl ride together in three races every match, the most points we can get is 15 if they put together a series of 5-1 wins,” explained English.

“Split them up and we could get 18 if they each win races separately.

“But that’s only one of two reasons behind the decision as I feel there is too much pressure on our young Dane, Jonas Raun, whose programmed rides, home or away, mean he is paired with a reserve three times and he is not experienced enough to handle that.

“So I’ve moved Jonas to No 2 where he will ride with Christian, while Carl goes to No 5 as he is scoring points like a heat leader.”

Newcastle also give a debut to Stoke Spitfires’ Sam Dore tomorrow (6.30pm).

Edinburgh have recently had a spell of hiring and firing in an attempt to rekindle their play-off hopes.

Out went American Ronnie Correy, Dane Henrik Moller, who chose to join Birmingham rather than Newcastle after speaking to both clubs, and former Edinburgh captain Theo Pijper.

To replace them, in came ex-Diamond George Stancl, who had been axed by Glasgow, and two riders from Finland, Kaj Laukkanen and Kalle Katajisto.

Last night at Edinburgh, Newcastle skipper Henry scored nine points in the Scottish Open Championship, missing out on a place in the semi-final race by a point.

The title was claimed by King’s Lynn star Daniel Nermark.